Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

Twenty years ago Claire Scott’s eldest sister, Julia, went missing. No one knew where she went – no note, no body. It was a mystery that was never solved and it tore her family apart. Now another girl has disappeared, with chilling echoes of the past. And it seems that she might not be the only one. Claire is convinced Julia’s disappearance is linked. But when she begins to learn the truth about her sister, she is confronted with a shocking discovery, and nothing will ever be the same… 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape & paedophilia
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Drug abuse
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a sister & spouse
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • House fire
  • Kidnapping
  • Disappearance of a sibling
  • Animal abuse mentioned

Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Emily Bell has it all. She’s in love with a boy named Sam Border, and his little brother has become part of her family. This summer is destined to be the best time of their lives–until a charismatic new girl in town sets her sights on Sam. Now Emily finds herself questioning the loyalty of the person she thought she could trust most.

But the biggest threat to her happiness is someone she never saw coming. Sam’s criminally insane father, whom everyone thought they’d finally left behind, is planning a jailbreak. And he knows exactly where to find Emily and his sons when he escapes…and takes his revenge. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexual assault
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death recounted
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The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith

Once again blending multiple story strands that transcend time and place, Andrew Smith tells the story of 15-year-old Ariel, a refugee from the Middle East who is the sole survivor of an attack on his small village. Now living with an adoptive family in Sunday, West Virginia, Ariel’s story of his summer at a boys’ camp for tech detox is juxtaposed against those of a schizophrenic bomber and the diaries of a failed arctic expedition from the late nineteenth century. Oh, and there’s also a depressed bionic reincarnated crow. 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Rape mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Starvation mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a brother mentioned
  • Mass murder by gun violence & poison gas recounted
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Explosions
  • Physical assault mentioned
  • Refugee experiences
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Stand Off by Andrew Smith

Stand Off by Andrew Smith

It’s his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should be focused on his future, but instead, he’s haunted by his past. His rugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lost friend, Joey, as the rugby team’s stand-off and new captain. And somehow he’s stuck rooming with twelve-year-old freshman Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and a serious crush on Annie Altman—aka Ryan Dean’s girlfriend, for now, anyway.

Equally distressing, Ryan Dean’s doodles and drawings don’t offer the relief they used to… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend recounted*
  • Murder by physical assault recounted

*Note: The protagonist’s gay best friend was beaten to death in a brutal hate crime in the previous book.

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Winger by Andrew Smith

Winger by Andrew Smith

Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Bury Your Gays trope
  • Homomisia
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying

*Note: The protagonist’s gay best friend is beaten to death in a brutal hate crime within the last fifty pages of the book.

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Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill by Bryan Smith

Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill by Bryan Smith

Ten years ago on Christmas Eve, Silas Herzinger donned a Santa suit and took an axe to 15 members of his extended family. Luke Herzinger, his youngest son, was the sole survivor of the infamous Herzinger Family Massacre. Now, after a decade away, a despondent and suicidal Luke has come home to face his past and battle the evil that still resides in the old family home on Haunted Hill.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Suicide mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder & mass murder
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Tactical Submission by Ada Maria Soto

Tactical Submission by Ada Maria Soto

SWAT commander Jack Burnside is haunted by his craving to kneel before another man. Of all the things he hates about himself – his overtly masculine size and strength, his blue eyes, his insecurities – it is the need to submit that he fears will destroy him.

Doctor Isaac Bard is close to achieving his perfect life. He has a great job with the Coroner’s Office and an open marriage to a loving wife who understands his needs better than he does. The only thing he is missing is a handsome young man to dominate, spoil rotten, and love… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Domestic terrorism
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The Survivors by Jane Harper

The Survivors by Jane Harper

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.

Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.

When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away… 

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Parent with Dementia
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Murder
  • Disappearance of a sibling recounted
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Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along a muddy track. Only four come out on the other side.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker, Alice Russell. Because Alice knew secrets, about the company she worked for and the people she worked with. The four returning women tell Falk a tale of fear, violence and fractured trust during their days in the remote Australian bushland. And as Falk delves into the disappearance of Alice, he begins to suspect some dangers ran far deeper than anyone knew.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut shaming
  • Nonconsensual distribution of private photographs online
  • Eating disorder
  • Abortion & miscarriage mentioned
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Fire mentioned
  • Animal attack (snake)
  • Bullying
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The Dry by Jane Harper

The Dry by Jane Harper

In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.
But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Luke’s death now threatens to bring to the surface.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Child physical & sexual abuse
  • Rape & sexual assault of a child
  • Incest (father-daughter)
  • Domestic violence
  • Gambling addiction
  • Depression mentioned
  • Suicide & murder-suicide (theme)
  • Attempted suicide by immolation, on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Graphic dead bodies
  • Blood & gore depiction, including burns
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a son, daughter-in-law & grandson
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a father from bowel cancer mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Fire
  • Drought (theme)
  • Mugging & home invasion recounted
  • Animal death & hunting
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